Unfortunately, it depends on what sort of job you're going for, and I would be surprised if there wasn't regional differences too. Plus some people have negative preconceptions about the sort of person that would go through SICP (happily, they are exactly the sorts of people you don't want to work for). If you're looking to join a larger company or looking to enter the job market in the next 12 months or so, then probably experimenting with more frameworks and getting some code up would be better bang for your time. Even better if you have contributed to existing OSS projects.
But for your own general longer term career development, SICP is a very good bet. But SICP wasn't really designed for home study so it will be hard going. Personally, I would be very impressed if an interviewee made it halfway through SICP by themselves. I have tried multiple times and never got very far before .. er ... reprioritising.
If you want to learn more functional programming, I highly recommend learning Haskell with Learn you a Haskell (http://learnyouahaskell.com/). This is a much easier start to functional programming and get you productive quickly. Haskell will force you to really learn functional programming as there isn't an easy imperative backdoor (not to say you can't write imperative code in Haskell - see (http://www.haskellforall.com/2013/05/program-imperatively-us...) for example, just its not particular easy how to get there). My current project is writing a web app in Haskell and its a very interesting experience.
If you want to learn functional programming, but still be attractive for jobs, then I would recommend learning Scala ideally with the 'Functional Programming in Scala' coursera course and then working through Odersky's "Programming in Scala" book. Scala is a JVM language so it can interoperate easily with Java code, and I've seen companies in London using knowledge of Scala as a signal of a good quality Java developer. It is also (successfully in my view) a multi-paradigm language which can be used both as a functional language, and as an imperative one without feeling too much like a compromise on either side. Though in my view, its harder to learn functional programming properly when you have an "easy out" back into the imperative world.
Also, check out communities you can join such as (http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/) or Haskell Cafe or local Meetups with others interested in functional programming.
But for your own general longer term career development, SICP is a very good bet. But SICP wasn't really designed for home study so it will be hard going. Personally, I would be very impressed if an interviewee made it halfway through SICP by themselves. I have tried multiple times and never got very far before .. er ... reprioritising.
If you want to learn more functional programming, I highly recommend learning Haskell with Learn you a Haskell (http://learnyouahaskell.com/). This is a much easier start to functional programming and get you productive quickly. Haskell will force you to really learn functional programming as there isn't an easy imperative backdoor (not to say you can't write imperative code in Haskell - see (http://www.haskellforall.com/2013/05/program-imperatively-us...) for example, just its not particular easy how to get there). My current project is writing a web app in Haskell and its a very interesting experience.
If you want to learn functional programming, but still be attractive for jobs, then I would recommend learning Scala ideally with the 'Functional Programming in Scala' coursera course and then working through Odersky's "Programming in Scala" book. Scala is a JVM language so it can interoperate easily with Java code, and I've seen companies in London using knowledge of Scala as a signal of a good quality Java developer. It is also (successfully in my view) a multi-paradigm language which can be used both as a functional language, and as an imperative one without feeling too much like a compromise on either side. Though in my view, its harder to learn functional programming properly when you have an "easy out" back into the imperative world.
Also, check out communities you can join such as (http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/) or Haskell Cafe or local Meetups with others interested in functional programming.
Good luck.